Saying no - Again!

Monday

Mar 11, 2013 at 3:38 PM

It is only two letters but it can be hard to utter with determination.

Shiela Rabe

I have been a member of the Minnesota Wisconsin Collie Rescue for nearly ten years. The wonderful volunteers with MWCR are very persuasive folks. They are really good at tugging on a potential adopter's heartstrings. And if that's not enough there is always the MWCR.org website where available collies' biographies and photos are posted. I even write some of the bios so I have developed some skill as a heartstring tugger. As keen as the rescue group is to find homes for homeless collies they are also very vigilant in determining that a potential home is a good one.

My husband Bruce and I first became involved with MWCR when we applied to adopt a collie in 2004. Our dear old Rainy the blue merle was ebbing away and we knew we just had to have another collie when the Rainman eventually left us.

I tell you we might as well have been applying to adopt a human baby. It was a very complicated and lengthy process. But at last we had jumped through all the appropriate hoops and red tape tangles and qualified as adopters. We had the privilege of living with and loving for eight years, first Astro the white collie, then Max the tricolor and finally Lacey, our mahogany sable princess. Astro crossed the Rainbow Bridge three years ago; Max is very nearly at the bridge and Lacey, bless her, is still a youthful girl full of collie hugs and kisses. As Max declines we are thinking that perhaps Lacey will need a collie companion. Adopting these special dogs has not prevented us from fostering a number of MWCR dogs over the past few years, and of course several Uffda Fund critters have also called our place home, some permanently.

Yesterday, as I was enjoying a good read, the phone rang - it was Mary the MWCR foster coordinator calling, wondering if Bruce and I would be interested in taking a gorgeous blue merle male collie which was in desperate need of placement. My brain slipped a synapse or two and was sending a message to my mouth - a three letter word - YES - when suddenly I looked at my feet where dear old Max was snoozing comfortably. The neural terminals connected suddenly and I stammered "N-n-n-o-o-o".Mary understood what I was trying to say, and after a pleasant chat about the weather in Wisconsin we said "good bye". Whew! That was touch and go for awhile. Some day the phone will ring again and I will be able to say "Yes!"